UAB graduating medical school students celebrate Match Day

UAB’s fourth-year medical students found out where they will do their residency training, and in what medical field, at the 2014 Match Day activities.

The 2014 graduating class of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine celebrated Match Day on Friday, March 21, with 94 percent matching in a postgraduate position to continue their medical education. School of Medicine students will pursue residency training in 77 institutions in 31 states across the nation.

Match Day, coordinated by the National Resident Matching Program, is when graduating seniors at U.S. medical schools learn where they will conduct their residency training and in which field. This year, 17,000 U.S. medical school seniors and 16,000 other applicants, including students from international medical schools and osteopathic schools, competed for residency program spots.

“Match Day is the end of the years-long journey of hard work and competition for medical students,” said Selwyn Vickers, M.D., senior vice president for Medicine and dean of the School of Medicine. “They’ve completed what may be the most exciting year of their medical careers: the fourth year of medical school, and the culmination of that is matching in a program in the specialty of their dreams and becoming the doctors they have always wanted to be.”

“Match Day really makes clear what our work is all about: to see our medical students mature and reach the point of their dreams,” Vickers said. “We’re a big part of getting them there. UAB is a place where our students can touch the world, either by where they choose to train or by the impact of patients they choose to take care of around the world.”

Seventy-seven percent of UAB students are staying in the Southern U.S. for training, with about 37 percent of those staying in Alabama. Eleven percent of students matched in the central U.S., 5 percent matched in Western states, and 10 percent matched in Northeastern states.

Seventy-seven percent of UAB students are staying in the Southern U.S. for training, with about 37 percent of those staying in Alabama. Eleven percent of students matched in the central U.S., 5 percent matched in Western states, and 10 percent matched in Northeastern states.

Right after reading his match letter, Cresswell Simpson said he was “really excited and a little bit shaky.” Simpson matched in emergency medicine at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

“I feel like I’ve been waiting for this day for four years, and I’m really excited,” he said. Working in EMS while in college at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., got Simpson interested in specializing in emergency medicine.

“There’s never a dull moment, and I like seeing different patients and doing a little bit of everything,” Simpson said.

Dan Partain and his wife, Paige, both matched in their first-choice programs — he in internal medicine and she in pediatrics — at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, Minn. The couple met on the first day of medical school at UAB and married during their third year.

“UAB is an amazing academic medical institution, and to have that opportunity and also be near home and close to family and friends, it was too good for me to pass up,” Paige Partain said of choosing the medical school at UAB.

“We are extremely proud of our students’ accomplishments,” said Laura Kezar, M.D., associate dean for students. “Our students have matched into outstanding programs, which will help us achieve our different missions, including primary care, physicians for rural Alabama and physician researchers.”

A large number of students matched into medical specialties, including 17.5 percent in internal medicine, 13.3 percent in pediatrics, 9.7 percent in emergency medicine and 9.1 percent in family medicine. Students also matched in other medical specialties, such as radiology, anesthesiology, medicine-pediatrics, ophthalmology, obstetrics and gynecology, neurology, psychiatry, physical medicine and rehabilitation, pathology, radiation oncology, and dermatology.

More than 13 percent of students matched in surgery and surgical subspecialties, including general surgery, orthopaedic surgery, preliminary surgery, otolaryngology, oral/maxillofacial surgery, urology, neurosurgery and thoracic surgery.

Danielle Franklin matched in pediatrics at UAB, and is looking forward to starting her internship at her first-choice program.

“It’s going to be a hard road, but I’m so ready to meet the patients and the rest of the residents in UAB Pediatrics and then practicing and staying here in Birmingham,” she said.

An estimated 625 students will participate in the commencement ceremony, and 745 students will graduate. The university’s highest degrees will be conferred on 79 students from 18 states and seven countries in the doctoral hooding ceremony.

Students will present papers on topics as diverse as the Aztecs’ bloody past, the Egyptian goddess Isis, Charles-François Daubigny’s floating studio, a mask of the female Sande society and the representation of women in 18th-century French portraiture.

The UAB Bachelor of Fine Arts exhibition represents the culmination of a diverse and intensive program of undergraduate study and will feature illustration, photography and printmaking by Lucy Allen, Amber Gomez and Anna-Kate Marcum.

The Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions awards the Scholarship of Excellence annually to 12 students across the nation who excel in their academic programs and have significant potential to take on future leadership roles in health professions.

The Department of Music presents this annual favorite, featuring UAB Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, the UAB Trumpet Ensemble, choirs and ensembles from area high schools, and the Steel City Men’s Chorus.

Olatuja and her band will open the concert, and the UAB Gospel Choir will then join her in performing holiday-inspired songs. Olatuja also will lead a vocal master class with students in the choir. UAB students, employees, faculty and alumni may purchase $10 tickets.

UAB and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute hosted a panel discussion Tuesday night in a lecture hall full of students, faculty and Birmingham residents to talk about civil discourse after a heated election season.

Everyone’s looking for a little peace — and students have found it in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences, a growing hub for the study of peaceful societies, human rights, nonviolent conflict resolution, and related topics. Discover useful tips for defusing friction with family and neighbors, and learn more about the practical lessons of peace.

More than 35 music students and guest performers will tell the story of shepherd boy Amahl, who sees an enormous star and is met with regal visitors bearing gifts. The production features a full set, orchestra, costumes and more.

Department of Art and Art History students will give performances on sound effects added to film and pair images of artworks from across the 20th century to 12 corresponding items from the Department of Theatre’s historical costume collection.